2018 Sailing (Joseph Akins)

2018 SAILING

We were pleased to feature in our 2018 cruise solo pianist Joseph Akins. The cruise departed June 9, 2018 from Miami on the beautiful MSC Seaside, the newest ship in the MSC fleet and we visited St. Maarten, San Juan, and Nassau.

The Seaside is a magnificent vessel and our guests were treated to a wide variety of experiences, both onboard and during our port visits. Joseph performed two beautiful and very different concerts onboard in the Seaview Lounge, an ideal space for such an event. We arranged something of a surprise for the guests on the cruise: a bonus concert with Michele McLaughlin, Cory Lavine and Gina Lenée who also traveled with us for the voyage! Dr. Akins generously allowed this bonus concert to take up one of his slots and the artists included him as well, so all four were heard in the span of two hours! Joseph and Michele also teamed up on one of the best improvised duets you’ll ever hear. Video of this piece will be posted shortly.

A number of us got together to visit the Bacardí factory in Puerto Rico and then meet for lunch at the well-known Barrachina Restaurant, the birthplace of the piña colada! Oh, those are wonderful! Not to be outdone, the group also experienced one of Seaside’s many specialty restaurants: Roy Yamaguchi’s Teppanyaki restaurant. Our chef amazed and dazzled in the true Teppanyaki style and the meal was out of this world.